In a statement, Sashi Esports’ director of sports Allan “Rejin” Petersen, announced the new member, revealing that HUNDEN was an “obvious choice” for them.

“We are very pleased to be able to present HUNDEN to Sashi Esport. Nicolai and I have known each other for many years and have previously worked together, so when the opportunity to get him to Sashi Esport presented itself, it was an obvious choice for us to reach out to him,” Rejin said.

“In addition to the previous experience from his earlier employment at top teams such as Heroic and Astralis, HUNDEN brings a lot of experience within talent development on the Danish scene,” the statement continued.

Rejin was also recently signed to the Danish esports organisation as the team’s new sports director and will be a part of their rebuild.

HUNDEN spent the spring season as Astralis’ head analyst before leaving the team in June alongside the director of sports Kasper Hvidt. He will take on the head coaching role in Sashi, his first since departing Heroic in July 2021.

HUNDEN initially rose to fame as a player on Tricked and MAD Lions lineup. He helped win multiple major tournaments, making a name for himself in the tier-one scene in the process. The former player switched to coaching in 2020 and was added to Heroic’s roster.

HUNDEN spent most of his coaching career as a part of Heroic, helping the team record impressive feats between 2020 and 2021. During this period, Heroic won events like the Electronic Sports League

Heroic eventually suspended the coach in September 2020 following his involvement in the infamous spectator bug scandal. He returned to coaching eight months after but ended things with Heroic within three months.

At the time, HUNDEN was accused of sharing sensitive information with a major competitor attending the Intel Extreme Masters Cologne while still linked to Heroic. He was issued a two-year ban by the Esports Integrity Commission at the time; however, it was overturned, and HUNDEN returned to the competitive scene as Astralis’ head Analyst.

Rejin is not without his share of controversy, having been suspended as part of the coach spectator bug incident as well. He was permanently banned from playing and coaching at Majors by the ESIC.

HUNDEN and Rejin will take charge of Sashi’s restructuring in their new roles in time for the Counter-Strike 2 release. The duo will assemble a new roster around Mikkel “n1xen” Borlund, the only player left on the lineup following Sashi’s massive overhaul.

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The documents, dubbed “The HUNDEN Files”, are a series of curated articles that will disclose “101 pages of private communications” between the CS:GO coach and Astralis between 2020 to 2021. HUNDEN was signed to Heroic from May 2020 to May 2022; however, within this period, Astralis reached out to him with an offer for a coaching role.

Lewis’ report revealed conversations between HUNDEN and Astralis’ Director of Sports, Kasper Hvidt. He was officially offered a coaching role on March 8, 2021, and by March 19 it was agreed that Hunden would receive the documents to review.

HUNDEN got the document by March 23; however, he had to conclude his talks with the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC). The ESIC suspended him and 37 other coaches for a year for using the in-game spectator bug. Heroic also benched him during this period.

By April 2, 2021, HUNDEN and Astralis CEO Anders H?rsholt had signed an employment contract while he was still a part of Heroic. The Danish organization reportedly got word of the contract conversation between the two parties after an “Astralis insider” informed them via email towards the end of April 2021.

HUNDEN served eight months away from the Heroic lineup due to the ban and returned to his position in April 2021. Four months after he returned, the coach was accused of sharing confidential details about Heroic with someone in a major competing company ahead of the IEM Cologne 2021. Astralis was discovered to be the unnamed company as they faced off against Heroic in the tournament.

Sharing strategic information reportedly soured things between both parties leading Astralis to allegedly chastise HUNDEN’s actions.

Lewis’ documents allege that HUNDEN signed the employment contract with Astralis, and the organization asked him to recruit players while still signed to Heroic. Astralis also reportedly linked the coach with a lawyer to void his contract with Heroic.

Before the July 2021 tournament, HUNDEN revealed that he would not extend his coaching contract with Heroic, and the organization responded by accusing him of sharing confidential material with a competitor.

Heroic also promised to sue HUNDEN for sharing strategy assets with a competitor, which they are currently in the process of doing. By August 2021, ESIC banned HUNDEN for two years due to claims of sharing sensitive documents with a competing organization. This prohibited the coach from attending ESIC-organized events.

In January this year, Astralis introduced HUNDEN as their new CS:GO analyst.

Lewis is set to reveal more information on the previous interactions between Astralis and HUNDEN.

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“With the appointment of our new Head Analyst, Astralis’ organization is now in place, and all focus is now on the 2023 season,” the team tweeted.

In August 2021, the former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive coach was given a two-year ban by the Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC) for sharing private information from “Heroic’s strategy folder” with an adversary team in advance of IEM Cologne in July 2021. Fortunately, for the coach, this ban came to an end early in December when ESIC announced they have lifted the ban, hence he can now commence activities in esports terrains.

HUNDEN will be filling up the Astralis position, which has been empty since December of last year after the departure of their previous analyst, Frederik “LOMME” Nielsen.

This news has caused an uproar among CS:GO fans worldwide, with some in support of the idea while others have expressed their displeasure with the recruitment of HUNDEN. Nonetheless, Astralis executives have left press releases conveying what a good idea it is to have the former coach as their analyst.

Astralis’ sports director Kasper Hvidt said: “First and foremost, I am pleased that we have now come to an agreement with Nicolai, who is an extremely skilled and sought-after capacity. He will, without a doubt, empower our work. We enter 2023 with a stronger team and a modernized performance organization, where we have invested in both more and exceptionally talented profiles.

“Of course, we are aware of Nicolai’s history and what he has been through, but I have no doubt that as a person and as the extremely skilled analyst he is, he will be a great asset to our team and organization,” he continued.

The team’s CS:GO coach, Peter “casle” Ardenskjold, also said: “Nicolai is one of the best in the field and is extremely thorough in his work. We are working on getting the roles in place, and I have met very few people with the same deep insight into the game and who are as structured as Nicolai about his work around the team, opponents, and individual players.

“I am thrilled that we have brought him in, and together with the new set-up around the team, the players, and the resources we have available, we stand strong in relation to the future,” he added.

HUNDEN expressed his delight at having been given another opportunity to serve. He highlighted his goal for the team and disclosed he has already begun the preliminary duties of his role.

“It has been a long process, and there have been many things we had to discuss with my role and everything I have been through. Now I’m just happy it’s all in place, and I already feel how much it means to me to be up and running and to have talented people around me who trust and support me. Astralis is something special in Denmark, and having seen it all from the outside with the enormous support the team has always received, it feels great to be a part of it all,” said HUNDEN.

“I have started the work to get roles, structure, and playing style in place. Even though I’ve only worked with the guys since Monday, and it takes time to get used to each other, there is a good dynamic in the group, and the quality of the players is obvious. We may not win the first big tournament, but the more we build on the foundation, the better we prepare and stick to the agreements, the stronger and more consistent we become as a team.”

The Astralis CS:GO roster now consists of:
● Nicolai “dev1ce” Reedtz
● Benjamin “blameF” Bremer
● Andreas “Xyp9x” H?jsleth
● Christian “Buzz” Andersen
● Lukas “gla1ve” Rossander
● Peter “casle” Toftbo Ardenskjold (Coach)
● Nikolai “HUNDEN” Petersen (Head Analyst)

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After spending more than a third of his life as a Counter-Strike pro, HUNDEN will now have a chance to use a decade worth of knowledge and expertise to help Heroic re-launch their CS:GO project following an unsuccessful takeover deal with FunPlus Phoenix.

“We are happy to announce that Nicolai “Hunden” Petersen will lead our newly formed roster in their quest for success,” Heroic revealed in an official statement posted on Twitter.

“Nicolai has a long history in Counter-Strike as a player where he has built up his name as an in-game leader and mastermind.”

HUNDEN will join a freshly rebuilt Heroic roster consisting of Martin “stavn” Lund, Johannes “B0RUP” Borup, Casper “cadiaN” M?ller, René “TeSeS” Madsen and the newest addition to their active lineup, Nikolaj “niko” Kristensen. On the bench are Marco “Snappi” Pfeiffer and Patrick “es3tag” Hansen, the latter of whom is on his way to Astralis in the summer.

HUNDEN was benched by MAD Lions at the start of March in favour of Asger “AcilioN” Larsen, shortly before the team competed in the Europe Minor Closed Qualifier and the inaugural season of FLASHPOINT. Although MAD hinted HUNDEN could remain with the organisation, where he would take over a managerial role, nothing was confirmed until the Danish Counter-Strike veteran announced his retirement on Wednesday.

HUNDEN kept his announcement short, stating only that he had “decided to retire as a CS player” and that there was “news coming up soon”. Shortly after, the 28-year-old made another Twitter post unveiling his move into coaching with Heroic.

“Finally I took the step that I’ve wanted to take for so long. Now, when I was offered the chance to coach such a talented team, it was easy for me to finally make up my mind. I’m looking forward to doing what I’m best at, and that is using my brain and create a masterplan to make Heroic shine, and finally make them go deep in the rankings again,” said HUNDEN.

“The future looks bright, I’m looking forward to finally work with Niko and Borup again. I have always wanted to be a part of HEROIC, and now I’m the head coach – and I will do my best to show the best HEROIC anyone has ever seen!”

HUNDEN’s transition to coaching has ended an 11-year career as a Counter-Strike player that began in April 2009, when he played for CS: Source team DSRack. He also played for the likes of SK Gaming, Copenhagen Wolves, ALTERNATE aTTaX and Tricked Esports, with whom he won V4 Future Sports Festival – Budapest 2019.

HUNDEN failed to see much success in any S-Tier tournaments outside of a fourth-place finish at StarLadder StarSeries X with MyXMG, a top-eight finish at ESL Pro League I with Copenhagen Wolves and a ninth-12th result at IEM Katowice 2020 with MAD Lions. Nonetheless, with a young and talented Danish roster under his guidance, his best years as an esports athlete might be on the horizon.

The new-look Heroic roster will play their first match under HUNDEN’s guidance at Elisa Invitational 2020 on Friday, May 1 at 13:30 CET, when they will face off against their regional rivals North.

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